Adult Contemporary

Caedmon's Call

Essential Records

CBN.com  Caedmon’s Call returns to what they do best with their new album titled Overdressed. The seminal folk-pop act has moved to a new label home at INO Records with this release, a revival of their acoustic guitar-driven sound. Overdressed also features the return of Derek Webb to the Caedmon’s fold, adding his vocals and songwriting to the album and upcoming tour.

Band leader Cliff Young proclaims this their most organic record yet, returning their sound to its acoustic-yet-engaging beginnings and harkening back to their popular 40 Acres project.

The band also reunites with Webb as they move to INO Records, home to MercyMe, Skillet, and Todd Agnew. “I have long been an admirer of Caedmon’s Call rich musical legacy,” says president of INO Records Jeff Moseley. “Now with the addition of Derek Webb for this record, it just feels like a natural fit. I am thrilled they are a part of the INO family and that we can share in the future of Caedmon’s Call.” Webb’s return to this album’s line-up doesn’t mean he’s giving up his solo career; in fact, he’s just released his fourth solo album, The Ringing Bell.

The band’s album title Overdressed stems from “the idea that we’re overdressed as believers and in the church—it’s talking about sin, depravity, shame—that we’re not who we were intended to be” but tend to try to disguise it, a theme that recurs throughout the album.

It also refers to the project’s less-produced sound; Overdressed was produced by the band and mixed by Shane Wilson, who helped the band craft a sound both raw and accessible.

The project’s highlights include the singable, harmony-rich singles “There Is A Reason” and “Need Your Love,” Webb’s typically insight-filled “Share In The Blame,”
and “Sacred,” one of Danielle’s contributions to the record.

Continuing the missional focus that informed Share The Well, “Two Weeks In Africa” tells of the “life-changing dose of perspective” a mission trip can give. It’s also about how “easy it is to forget, when in my bedroom pacing around talking on the phone, the Dalits and people picking through the trash, and a girl living in a pipe under the freeway.”

“Two songs on this record that Andy [Osenga] wrote are two of my favorite songs we’ve ever done,” says Young. One of those is “Hold The Light,” a song Osenga wrote to his small group. “‘Hold the Light’ is easily the most personal song I've had on a Caedmon's record,” explains Osenga. “So much of this record is about family and community and how they give us strength when we don't have it, and for me, this song serves as the prime example for how deeply that honest community can affect us.”

Caedmon’s Call has sold over a million units of its 14 records to date but has always been more of a community itself than a band. This group is known for it’s multi-talented members; Cliff and Danielle Young (two of Christian music’s best-loved voices), Derek Webb and Andy Osenga (both respected singer-songwriters), Todd Bragg, Garett Buell, Jeff Miller and Josh Moore (all top-notch musicians).

The ever-evolving collective helped bring a renaissance of acoustic music in the Christian pop scene and earned the band a large and loyal fan following, known as The Guild. Caedmon’s also helped launch or boosted the careers of artists like Bebo Norman, Jill Phillips, Waterdeep, and Andrew Peterson.

The band is also a longtime promoter of missional living, through their longtime partnership with Compassion International, and more recently with the Dalit Freedom Network, an organization fighting caste discrimination in India, and the band’s own Share The Well Foundation. The idea of the foundation is central to the band’s message, “to change the perspective, change the church culture, and what it means to be a believer,” says Young, from sitting in the safety of a pew to impacting a hurting world.